I became a car nut because of a low-powered British sports car, an MGA. I
almost gave up on cars because of the same car, because it was unreliable,
ridiculously quirky, and simply not made for American driving.

The MGA died, as did MG, essentially. But Mazda launched the Miata in 1990,
and this car is good where the MGA was not good (it still hurts to say
bad), and offers just as much driving fun, if not more. The Miata, like the
MGA, is underpowered, but you hardly notice it because of all the fun
you're having.

The 2006 Miata is completely new. It doesn't share any components with the
car it replaces. And yet, it's the same car it was when it was first
introduced. This is what Mazda discovered that British Leyland Motors
didn't,; upgrading a car without changing its basic character is good.
First, the engine. Powering the 2006 Miata is an all-new 2.0-liter I4. It
drives the rear wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission (in the
Grand Touring model) with a manual mode. So if you want to be lazy, you can
keep the gear selector lever in full automatic mode and the Miata shifts
when it feels it's the right time to shift.

But if you want to drive the Miata like a sports car, and I found that I
wanted to drive the Miata this way, then shift the lever into "M" and shift
using paddles behind the steering wheel. There are clearly marked "upshift"
and "downshift" paddles on both sides of the wheel, so you don't have to
decide which ones you want to use. They shift instantaneously, and since
there's no clutch pedal to mess up, the shifts are smooth.

In the entire week I had the Miata I don't' believe I exceeded 60 mph on
any road. But boy did I have fun. And that's the essence of a true sports
car as far as I'm concerned. The engine/transmission combination is so well
balanced that speed isn't important.

Obviously, the other half of the sports car equation is great handling, and
the Miata passes this test with flying colors as well. We drove the Miata
over our favorite twisting mountain road, upshifting and downshifting with
the paddles and taking the corners as fast as we dared. I would love to
take the Miata out on a race track or slalom course somewhere where I could
do what I wanted without the fear of running into a car coming the other
way.

This all-new third generation Miata has a new front suspension that is
comprised of double wishbones, as in the best sports cars and race cars.
The rear suspension uses long links to help linearity. Coil springs are
used all around with gas-filled shock absorbers. Steering is by
rack-and-pinion (power-assisted) and there are disc brakes at all four
corners.

Aiding in the handling is the front mid-ship location of the engine. This
means that it is pushed way back in the engine bay, which contributes to
nearly ideal 50-50 front-to-rear weight distribution, leading to better
balance and - ta da - better handling.

The two seats are extremely comfortable. They offered excellent side
support. It might have been slightly better to have even more side support,
but then I might have been tempted to drive the Miata even harder. They
were manually adjustable.

Instruments were white-on-black, as in classic sports cars. They included a
speedometer, tachometer, oil pressure, water temperature and fuel.

To make the compartment as roomy as possible, there are power windows and
mirrors. No modern car is without cupholders, and the Miata has them in the
doors as well as two in the center console.

I was impressed by the headroom with the top up. There was never the
feeling that I was going to touch the roof. The top was a manual top, but
once you got the hang of how it operated, it raised and lowered fairly
easily - a lot easier than my MG's top did. The top folds neatly into its
own boot, that doesn't reduce trunk space. When it's up, you can use the
boot for additional storage.
My MG's trunk was a trunk in name only. Sure, I learned to live minimally
when I had it, but it wasn't practical for trips longer than a weekend if
you weren't traveling alone. The Miata's trunk is listed at just over five
cubic feet. It's reasonably practical and is of good size. The Miata Grand
touring lives up to its name.

Miata has always been a good sports car. The original concept was
excellent, and the redesign of this third generation keeps the tradition
alive. If you're a fan of big hunking power and noisy exhaust notes, this
isn't the car for you. But if you're interested in seeing and experiencing
what the classic sports cars of the Fifties were like, then this is the car
for you. But be careful, you may turn into a car nut.

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